Hi all, We're in San Cristobal de las Casas in Chiapas today. We got in Monday night after a long drive from Puerto Angel. The drive took us through the Sierra Madre del Sur once again only this time right where the mountains dive into the Pacific. After that we went through windy inter-mountain plains aptly named La Ventosa. They say the winds here routinely blow vehicles off the road. The government usually post warnings when high winds are expected and even close the road. One anecdote we heard was that a busload of tourists stopped and reversed course after seeing the truck in front of them get flipped over by the winds! Fortunately for us, the winds were calm that day and we managed to get to San Cristobal in one day from the coast.

Some of you, like myself, may have first heard of San Cristobal about ten years ago when the EZLN took over this and several other cities on New Year's Day 1994. The hostilities are somewhat subdued notwithstanding the unresolved issues that sparked the ongoing armed insurgency. There is a large and very visible police/military presence here and in the region and it's said that travel to the north and far east of the state should be made only with caution.

From our vantage point, San Cristobal seems to be taking all this in stride. It is a very vibrant city of about 100k in the Depresión Central de Chiapas, over 2000m in elevation. It always amazes me how cities of this size get built in such remote locations. Oddly enough, it is largely due to this relative geographic isolation that the city has managed to preserve much of its culture. The most distinctive aspect of this is the indigenous Maya population.

We've mostly been taking it easy in San Cristobal resting up before the next leg of our journey: Guatemala. We've outfitted ourselves with the pertinent maps and information, consulted various sources on routes and travel times, and even gave the Jimmy a well earned oil change after roughly 3,500 miles. We'll probably leave San Cristobal tomorrow and spend the night at the border in Ciudad Cuauhtemoc. The following day takes us to Antigua where we'll probably stay a couple of nights to take in the sights. That's our last stop before getting to Honduras. It looks like we'll likely go in through Copan and spend a night there and then it's on to La Ceiba! We should be there by sometime early next week!

The bummer is I'll barely be in LCE for a week before I have to fly back to the US for my assimilation (read: citizenship) interview. I'll be in Big-D from the 16th to the 23rd unless the swearing-in ceremony is soon after my interview in which case I may have to extend my stay. The good thing is that I'll be able to tie up some remaining loose ends while stateside, not the least of which is selling Steph's car (if anyone is in the market for a Prelude, let me know).

For now, we're just taking it easy and savoring our last days in Mexico. Believe it or not,travelingg through an unknown country can be somewhat exhausting. To better navigate through our daily needs, we've developed some efficiencies that have made for smoother travel. Our biggest hassle is always finding food and shelter.

The shelter part consists of identifying hotels in the next town in the guide an hour or two before arriving. The routine involves navigating through the city using maps that aren't always accurate and, once we find the place we're looking for, Steph dashes in to do a quick inspection, negotiate prices, and note any particulars that may become important overnight or during our stay. The basics are hot water, parking, noise level, proximity to city center, and (of course) price. After we do about four or five of these we finally choose one and check in. This process usually takes about two hours from arriving in town toinstallingg ourselves in the room!

For food, the best is to stick to the basics that are hard to screw up and are usually cheap. For the first half of our trip we stuck religiously to this maxim by maintaining a diet almost exclusively of tacos, burritos, and the like. Then we discovered the "comida corrida". That's when a place has a menu for the day that includes a soup, a main dish, desert, juice, and sometimes tea or coffee for a reduced price (usually half what a regular meal would cost). This is always way more economical than ordering a-la-carte from the menu.

Speaking of which, It's about time for us to go take in some comida corrida right about now. We found a place yesterday that in addition of having great food, service, and prices, has the virtue of playing Louis Armstrong: always a plus in my book.

Later